Did You Know ... It Is Now ILLEGAL To Collect Rainwater On YOUR OWN Property?

[Chadeaux]

A rural Oregon man was sentenced Wednesday to 30 days in jail and over $1,500 in fines because he had three reservoirs on his property to collect and use rainwater.

 

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[TheRingFinder]

Hey Chad - Check this out and let me know what you think.

snopes.com: Man Gets Prison Sentence for Collecting Rainwater on His Own Property

 

[Chadeaux]

When I get to work Monday, I'll see if Pacer (U.S. Court system web site which I use as part of my job on a daily basis) has any record of this.

As far as snooops, they have been caught in lies before so they have ZERO reliability in my opinion.

 

[TheRingFinder]

Yeah - I hear ya, it's tougher and tougher to get the truth now-a-days!!!

 

[NHBandit]

Agreed that Snopes is unreliable and biassed. Buttt.. The article is confusing and the picture of someone collecting rain water from the gutters on the roof of their home is misleading if it's true that the guy built dams to divert flowing water from streams into his huge reservoirs. I'm on the fence waiting for more accurate info.

 

[Chadeaux]

Yeah - I hear ya, it's tougher and tougher to get the truth now-a-days!!!

Even Snooops article gives a bit of credibility to article:

Although in a strictly literal sense Oregon resident Gary Harrington was indeed sentenced to prison for collecting rainwater, that sentence followed several years of legal dispute over what the state continually described his willful and flagrant operation of a number of illegal reservoirs. Moreover, Harrington's dispute with water authorities in Oregon was not first disclosed in 2015 (nor even in 2012), as police had been publicly involved in investigating his water collection issues as early as 2002. Finally, the laws in question are not new laws aimed at criminalizing water collection in Oregon or elsewhere; rather, the law that Harrington was found to be in violation of was passed in 1925, and the cited case involving Harrington's large (illegal) reservoirs was decided in 2007.

How can a city own rainwater? It can't, but apparently it can deny citizens the right to collect and store it.

 

[BigWaveDave]

There are a few states, like Co. for instance, that DO have antiquated laws regarding harvested rain water, however, most states its ok.... Not only is the practice of utilizing rain barrels encouraged in communities, some districts will give you tax breaks for having them.

Visit Rain Barrel Beauty ,Ft Myers Fl., recycled barrels....
that is my website, as I make and sell rain barrels on the side..I don't do it as often as I used to though, as my source dried up, and my trailer got crushed under a tree...(long story)

 

[pa plateau hiker]

There is a law here in Pennsylvania from the 1920's that states it is illegal to collect rain water. That rain water belongs to everyone, and you cannot collect it for your own use. I have read of 2 cases in the last several years where individuals have been cited for collecting rain water.

 

[TheRingFinder]

I was in prison for 10 years - just got out and on probation for 10 more years - I was caught collecting oxygen.

It's getting crazy out there............Common Sense seems to have eluded the masses...............What's a Po'boy to do?

 

[Gold Maven]

My cousin has a small cabin on a mining claim in Colorado, and he is forbidden to collect the rain water from the roof.

He's way back in, I told him nobody would find out, he said his neighbor got fined.

Makes no sense, even though after collected, it would eventually be returned to the ground....

Joking about being arrested for hoarding oxygen is not far from the truth. Some of our larger cities require the purchase of carbon credits for exhaust fumes. I forget the details, but it's nothing more than a racket.

 

[hvacker]

I watched one of those home shows and the place had a very elaborate system for collection. Even the driveway had a way for water to be collected. I thought it was in CA. It was an expensive system. Too bad if he can't use it. Strange that if a meteorite falls in your yard it's yours but not the rain.

 

[austin]

Come to Texas and collect all the rainwater you want. Oh, wait. It never rains much anymore. Never mind...

 

[Rick K]

More bogus journalism. The guy collecting his roof runoff is not breaking the law and he is not in trouble for it.

The guy is in trouble for building catchment dams to collect flowing surface water in gullies on his property, thereby infringing on the water rights of downstream beneficiaries. Doing so without a permit is unlawful - another example of GOOD government, protecting the interests of citizens from the unlawful actions of their neighbor.

water law is extremely complex and goes back to roots in English Common Law.

 

[jerseyben]

It is not "NOW" illegal. The man was originally caught doing this back in 2002 and convicted. It has been illegal. He has done this several times since then, including this current conviction. Also, the referenced by the OP's post article was first published back in 2012.

Here is the local news story on this case: Eagle Point man jailed for illegal water reservoirs | Local & Regional News | Eugene News, Weather, Sports, Breaking News | KVAL CBS 13

Also, he was not arrested for simply collecting rainwater. He was arrested for damming channels on his property and collecting the runoff in 3 reservoirs. This can be done legally but one must obtain a permit, which the man did not have.

 

[ivan salis]

in areas in the past where folks farmed or grazed livestock.... water rights was a big deal.... often big time farmers / cattle grazers up stream from small timers would dam up the streams running thru their land cutting of the water vital to the small time farmers / cattle grazers downstream of them... forcing the small timers to sell to them or go under completely ... that is often where the "no collecting rainwater laws" come from -- basically the laws were wrote in such a way that so you could not impeade the natural flow of rain water off your land --it was wrote that way to stop water hordeing by rich large land owning farmers "damming" up a river --it means that rain water which makes up the rivers --belongs to everyone (the public) and is not a "private resource" you could horde at will .. so even if you owned the land on both sides of a river --you have no right to dam it up and withhold the rain water from folks "downstream" of you.

many a old time western movie centered around this theme ...

 

[Chadeaux]

More bogus journalism. The guy collecting his roof runoff is not breaking the law and he is not in trouble for it.

The guy is in trouble for building catchment dams to collect flowing surface water in gullies on his property, thereby infringing on the water rights of downstream beneficiaries. Doing so without a permit is unlawful - another example of GOOD government, protecting the interests of citizens from the unlawful actions of their neighbor.

water law is extremely complex and goes back to roots in English Common Law.

So, you are disputing Snooops? They even admitted it was for the collection of rainwater, NOT RUNOFF. You are describing RUNOFF.

 

[Chadeaux]

It is not "NOW" illegal. The man was originally caught doing this back in 2002 and convicted. It has been illegal. He has done this several times since then, including this current conviction. Also, the referenced by the OP's post article was first published back in 2012.

Here is the local news story on this case: Eagle Point man jailed for illegal water reservoirs | Local & Regional News | Eugene News, Weather, Sports, Breaking News | KVAL CBS 13

Also, he was not arrested for simply collecting rainwater. He was arrested for damming channels on his property and collecting the runoff in 3 reservoirs. This can be done legally but one must obtain a permit, which the man did not have.

A break with the almighty Snooops?

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Figures........ only in %^^$$%$ states would it be illegal to collect rain water on your own property....He didn't divert water from a creek, stream or river, but rain water running across his private property.

 

[Chadeaux]

Figures........ only in %^^$$%$ states would it be illegal to collect rain water on your own property....He didn't divert water from a creek, stream or river, but rain water running across his private property.

Yes, correct ... but if folks accuse him often enough, and muddy the water enough, eventually no one realizes that the runoff of rainwater is NOT the same as stopping the free flow of a stream. Most of the folks trying to say otherwise may not actually understand the difference.

In the south, we used to have large cisterns for the sole purpose of collecting rain water for household usage.

The San Francisco Plantation (I used to walk and drive by this house EVERY DAY when I lived in Louisiana) has some large cisterns ... just look at the blue structure on the left. It is designed to hold rainwater captured from the roof of the housel



If one bothers to look closely, there is a bit of pipe that runs to the top of the cistern.

 

[Limitool]

For Christ's sake.... Now there are folks who don't want others to collect RAIN WATER?! You got to be kidding me...? IF I LIVED IN A TOWNSHIP.... which said I couldn't and I wanted too... then I'd just run my gutters inboard into the building and the overflow outboard.... easy to do. But to even have this conversation over rain water is absolutely STUPID!